For a belt likewise now she
Must wear around her waist,
About her bare flesh laced,
And she must love whoever
Might undo it yet not sever
Its fastening, nor it destroy.
In the Lay of Guigemar written by Marie de France in the 12
th
century, the hero, Guigemar gave his lover a belt that is now interpreted as one of the first references to a chastity belt. He allows that should any man remove it without cutting it while he is away, he will permit his love to take that man as a lover. This is after, for the same reason, the woman tied his shirt so tight that only she could remove it. The man is then apprehended and sent home to his own country, the woman is captured, and many men try unsuccessfully to remove the belt. Eventually, Guigemar finds his way back to his love and she unties his shirt. There is a battle over the woman and all live happily ever after. It's a lovely example of courtly love and a very egalitarian form of orgasm denial. Curiously, the woman is never released from the belt.
Guigemar was the brand of chastity belt used by Master Hastur LeGuin. They were of high quality and had customizable elements. Chastity, rather than a courtly promise of fidelity, was a common punishment for slaves who misbehaved in a sexual manner
.
None of Master LeGuin's harem was more acquainted with this infuriating device than the prolifically promiscuous maid, Amber Mackie.
The slave parlor was quiet. The wall clock read one o'clock. Mid-day sun filled the room and illuminated book cases, the chess board, and the slave's communal television. Frustratingly, it also illuminated Alan's laptop screen in an awful glare. He was sitting at the small writing desk that was positioned near the sliding door to the patio. He had his laptop out and was sipping a wonderful cup of coffee that Miyuki, one of the kitchen slaves, had just brought him from the cafΓ©. His concentration was broken when he heard an exasperated grunt come from the hallway outside. Alan looked up in time to see Amber Mackie stomp into the room and flop down backwards on the couch that was perpendicular to where Alan was sitting. She wore her maid uniform, and her pale, ample breasts threatened to make an escape as she bounced onto the couch. Alan had noticed that there was some leeway in what the maids could wear, and Amber favored flouncier cuts. These uniforms tended to encourage malfunctions. Amber was likely well aware of this. From Alan's vantage point he could see the soft mounds of her breasts as if from above, resting on her chest under her black blouse. Looking up from that, he saw her entire lower half nearly exposed as the skirt fell towards her belly. Her adorably short legs stuck up from the arm of the couch. Alan was fighting his gentlemanly urge not to glance at where her skirt had fallen away from her hips. But when the boyish urge to gawk took over, he noticed metal glinting in the sunlight, pressing into her soft, yielding flesh.
"Hello, Amber," he said. Amber raised her head rapidly, her maid's bonnet askew.
"Oh, hello Mr. Merrick," she said as she flopped her head back down. A pillow toppled onto her face. In her melancholy she did not move it. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Just writing."
From the cushioned exile came a muffled "Mmmm.... You write a lot."
"Well....it is my job," he responded. Amber didn't say anything. Alan surmised that there was a story to be told here, so he pressed on, "Everything okay? I notice your uniform looks...different."
Amber rose up fully this time. Her freckled face scrunched and quizzical.
"What?" she asked. Alan gestured to the reflection.
"Your um...undergarments." She turned and looked back.
"Oh...this stupid thing. Yeah, I got put in chastity today. I hate it," she said, flopping her head back down.
"How long are you in for?" Alan asked. Keeping her head down, Amber raised her arms in a headless 'How should I know!' gesture.
"What did your Master say?"
"He said it's up to Vanessa, so it could be the rest of my life," Amber whined as she flopped her arms back down. He figured a lifetime sentence was an exaggeration, as Amber was prone to exaggeration. Her Master also never struck him as that cruel. Regardless, this was proving to be an exciting anthropological opportunity. His only experience with a chastity belt had been in
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
. He hadn't seen the film in ages, though now he was wondering if that film had not planted some seeds in his mind, and elsewhere, that were beginning to grow now. He crossed his legs and turned toward his subject.
"Do you wear it ALL the time?"
"Yes. Twenty-four seven," Amber said into the pillow.
"For everything?" At this, Amber lifted her head and then sat up. She gave Alan that quizzical look again.